Biometric symbol design for the public - case studies in the United States and four Asian countries

Published

January 18, 2010

Author(s)

Yee-Yin Choong, Brian C. Stanton, Mary F. Theofanos

Abstract

The use of biometric systems has been expanded beyond traditional law enforcement applications to other areas such as identity management, access control, e-commerce, and even healthcare. With the deployment of biometric systems on the rise, the user bases are also expanding from targeted users such as police to general computer users. This phenomenon challenges biometric researchers and developers to design systems with good usability. This paper evaluated a set of symbols intended for use in biometric systems to help users better understand biometric operations. Six studies with a total of 186 participants were conducted in the United States and in four Asian countries to investigate the cultural effects on people’s perception and understanding of the symbols. Some symbols show culture-free results, while some have mixed results. The cross-cultural implications of the case studies are discussed and future research is recommended.

Proceedings Title

3rd International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE2010)

Conference Dates

July 17-20, 2010

Conference Location

Miami, FL

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Biometrics, Symbols, Usability, Cross-Cultural

Citation

Choong, Y. , Stanton, B. and Theofanos, M. (2010), Biometric symbol design for the public - case studies in the United States and four Asian countries, 3rd International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE2010) , Miami, FL, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905107 (Accessed October 14, 2025)